Connector for holding articles together



June 23, 1970 F. G. MERSER 3,516,124

commcwon FOR nomme ARTICLES TOGETHER Filed April 18, 1968 VIII", IIIIII' f {Ur 4 J United States Patent 3,516,124 CONNECTOR FOR HOLDING ARTICLES TOGETHER Francis G. Merser, Framingham, Mass., assignor to Dennison Manufacturing Company, Framingham, Mass, a corporation of Nevada Filed Apr. 18, 1968, Ser. No. 722,321 Int. Cl. B6511 63/00 US. CI. 24-16 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Objects of the invention are to provide a connector which is simple and economical to produce, which is neat and attractive in appearance, and which connects articles so that they cannot be separated without breaking the connector or one of the articles.

According to this invention the connector comprises a filament having a socket on one end, a head on the other end to snap into the socket and, leading from the socket, an extension having a protuberance which is expansible to anchor the connector in an opening in an article. Preferably the socket projects from the filament in a direction transverse of the filament, the extension leads from the socket in approximate alignment with the filament, and the protuberance projects from the extension approximately in said direction. In the preferred embodiment the end of said protuberance is recessed to facilitate expansion by swaging, and the protuberance comprises thermoplastic material which may be swaged by heat and pressure.

For the purpose of illustration a typical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings in Which- FIG. 1 is a top view;

FIG. 2 is a side view;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view; and

FIG. 4 is a section on line 44 of FIG. 3.

The particular embodiment of the invention chosen for the purpose of illustration comprises a filament 1, a socket 2 on one end of the filament, a head 3 on the other end of the filament to snap into the socket and, leading 5 3,516,124 Patented June 23, 1970 3,402,435, the connector is molded in a single integral piece of nylon or other thermoplastic material which is resilient and the socket is slotted to form prongs 6 to snap in behind the head 3 as shown in FIG. 4. Preferably the socket and protuberance project in the same direction (downwardly in FIGS. 2 and 4), the socket is circular as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, and the head is conical as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. The connector may be attached to a tag or other article by inserting the protuberance through an opening in the article and swaging the end of the protuberance over the edge of the opening. To facilitate this swaging operation the end of the protuberance is preferably cupped as shown in FIG. 4. When the connector is formed of thermoplastic material the protuberance may be swaged with heat and pressure.

I claim:

1. A connector comprising a filament having a socket on one end, a head on the other end to snap into the socket and, leading from the socket, an extension having a head and, projecting from the head, a protuberance which is expansible to anchor the connector in an opening in an article.

2. A connector according to claim 1 wherein the socket projects from the filament in a direction transverse of the filament, the extension leads from the socket in approximate alignment with the filament, and the protuberance projects from the head approximately in said direction.

3. A connector according to claim 1 wherein the head comprises a disk and the protuberance projects from the center of the disk.

4. A connector comprising a filament having a socket on one end, a head on the other end to snap'into the socket and, leading from the socket, an extension having a protuberance which is expansible to anchor the connector in an opening in an article, characterized in that the protuberance comprises thermoplastic material which may be swaged by heat and pressure.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,936,980 5/ 1960 Rapata 24874 3,022,557 2/ 1962 Logan 24874 X 3,302,913 2/ 1967 Collyer et al.

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,336,617 7/ 1963 France.

120,992 1918 Great Britain.

869,915 6/ 1961 Great Britain.

DONALD A. GRIFFIN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 4021 

